Game Details

When it was announced that Plants vs. Zombies 2 would be a free-to-play game driven by microtransactions, many people were worried that the change would ruin the careful balance Popcap had struck with the first game. Those fears are largely overblown. Plants vs. Zombies 2 generally strikes the right balance between challenge and convenience, charging players only for things they can do for themselves quite readily.

If you played the first Plants vs. Zombies (and if you haven't, why not?), the basic gameplay will be familiar to you here. You still collect little bits of sun energy to buy plants that automatically fire at enemy zombies shambling in from the right side of the screen. Plants vs. Zombies 2 is still the instantly accessible, dumbed-down, yet strangely addictive version of a tower defense game that its predecessor was.

The vast majority of the plants you can use for your defense this time around are instantly familiar from the first game. Of the new ones, there are only a few standouts, like the lightning reeds that can arc electricity at nearby zombies or the pea pods that can be stacked from one to five pea shooters on the same square.

The new zombie types are the real highlight. Whether they're riding bucking broncos, sending out parrots and chickens to attack your plants, playing a rolling piano that makes each new zombie dance into another lane, or rolling destroyable barrels full of even more zombies, each presents a unique new challenge and demands a different response from your plant-based defenses.

Popcap has also added a few new twists to the standard grid design of the levels. In pirate-themed levels, parts of the screen are taken up by water, and zombies can swing in past your defenses on ropes. In Old West-inspired levels, plants can be placed on mine carts and moved across rows manually, expanding their efficiency (but limiting your planting area). Like the first game, there are also occasional mini-game-style levels that change things up by giving you a steady stream of set plants or asking you to fire cannons at flying zombies, Galaga style.

The real key to the game's appeal is that there's no one dominant strategy; there's no single plant or set of plants that can just work in every situation. You have to carefully choose which plants you need for any given situation in order to strike a diverse balance to deal with varied threats. The variety in plant choice also allows for customization based on play style. Will you go for a quick, blitz-style attack with cheap, weak plants, or do you prefer slower, more powerful plants that will dominate in the late game?

Plants vs. Zombies 2 also introduces a number of new power-ups that can give you a large advantage. Defeating special glowing zombies gives you a bag of plant food, which can be fed to a plant to unleash a single, massive attack to deal with tough situations or a huge wave of zombies. There are also several touchscreen-based attacks that let you dispose of zombies with a pinch, a flick, or an electrical swipe—if you're willing to spend in-game coins.

It's here that the dreaded specter of monetization rears its ugly head. If you don't have enough plant food, you can always buy more with real money using a tap of the green plus button. You can earn coins for your touchscreen attacks through regular gameplay too, but if you run out, you can buy more at any time, even in the middle of a fight. These abilities are so powerful that anyone who wants to can easily pay to beat even the most difficult levels using just a few quick taps.

A new map screen includes a lot of side paths to unlock with keys.

The touchscreen attacks are a tad overpowered, but they are limited by your coins.

Plant food makes flowers insanely happy and productive for a short time.

Crazy Dave is as crazy as ever.

Thankfully, the game is tuned well enough that a skilled player never has to spend a single dime. I managed to get through to the end of the game rather easily without spending any money, just by using the plant food and coins the game provided to me. On the first playthrough of most levels, in fact, I found I was rarely tempted to spend coins on those overpowered touch attacks. That's partly because I knew they were a limited resource and partly because using those touch attacks felt a bit like cheating. Limiting myself to what the game provided without spending real money became a point of pride, and it added some extra challenge without making the game impossible at any point.

After you beat each world, Plants vs. Zombies 2 encourages you to replay beaten levels with new, more difficult constraints. Sometimes you aren't allowed to plant on certain squares. Sometimes you can only spend an extremely limited amount of sun or have a small number of plants on the board at once. Sometimes you have to use a mismatched set of plants the game sets for you.

It's these replays that took the game from amusing diversion to real obsession for me. The limitations on otherwise simple levels require you to flex your mind in new ways and come up with unorthodox strategies you would never use in the "real" game. These replays also provide the opportunity to earn the stars and keys that unlock new levels and paths on the map. You can pay real money to unlock these without revisiting old levels, but when the challenges are so interesting, it's hard to even consider paying money to skip them.

I know free-to-play is still a dirty word in a lot of gaming circles, but Plants vs. Zombies 2 shows that it's possible to strike the right balance between monetization and difficulty. By letting skill and perseverance stand in for your optional dollars, Popcap has created a game where you really only have yourself to blame if you find that you need to spend money.

The Good

Same simple yet addictive real-time defense gameplay

Design and animation are as adorable as ever

Interesting new zombies

New challenges on familiar old levels add longevity

Well-balanced monetization system doesn't require you to spend a cent

The Bad

Most of the plants return from the first game, and new plants are often forgettable

Touchscreen attacks feel overpowered and antithetical to the game design

The Ugly

The fact that non-iOS platforms will have to wait to play it

Verdict: Download it for free. What do you have to lose besides hours of your life?

Plants vs. Zombies 2 shows that it's possible to strike the right balance between monetization and difficulty.

This is absolutely not true. One of the things you didn't even mention in the review is the absurd real money price of everything. The best older plants, which are mostly required to get in anywhere in the infinite ladders, cost 3 or 4 USD. A piece. Theres 5 of them. That's absolutely absurd.

And that's just the plants you need! For other upgrades, like one extra plant slot? $4 please. Reclaim more sun on digging up plants? Ching, $4 Start with extra sun? $4.

There's no way to earn your way to any of these. You can get some upgrades through play, but not all of them, and none of the paid for plants can be earned.

The insane prices of every little unit just screams EA greed. Many people would be happy to pay $15 or even $20 for the whole set because it's so good. As it stands $20 doesn't get you even close to half, and you can't just pay for a couple things and earn the rest. It's absurd, it's greedy, and I'll just be using a tool to unlock everything just to spite EA. And I bought PvZ on multiple platforms.

Also you didn't mention there's a very obnoxious interstitial full screen that just begs for money occasionally. TOUCH HERE TO BUY STUFF. PLEASE. The initial tutorial directly leads you into the store and says flat out 'here, buy things'.

I agree with you (so far -- haven't finished yet) that this is one of the rare F2P games that gets monetization right.

I'm slightly surprised that you left out my favorite aspect of that: merchandising.

Right on the starting screen of the game is a button that looks like a green t-shirt with a cartoon face on it. Tap on that and you are sent here: http://www.pvzstore.com/

You can then buy plushies or shirts or whatever. It's sort-of like a tip jar. You can directly reward the developer and get something to show for it without corrupting the gameplay. It's like buying shirts at a rock concert.

I am pretty sure it can only work if the game has real, distinct character to it. Which is good, I think -- games like that deserve higher rewards than games that don't.

Well I have played through all the way to Wild West zone, am only missing 7 stars, and as high as level 16 in the 3 endless games.

I have not purchased anything so far. I do not miss any of the "core" plants. I am happy with the selection provided. I find I rely on the fire pods heavily. The canons are nice against the sarcophagus guys when they also have Indiana Jones zombies with torches.

At this point I want to either see how far i can go without paying or buy extra starting sun and extra plant slot. Probably the latter since I need to also get to the not playing anymore phase.

People whining about the "grind" for stars in each zone: just plow to the end then get started on endless and stars. Endless drops all the keys you need for that zone and more.

234 posts | registered Jan 20, 2011

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

121 Reader Comments

I've been playing this on our ipad2 and have been immensely pleased with it. I feel like I pretty much have the entire experience for free. I don't feel like I'm grinding for stars, since the multiple challenges on each site on the main path are strictly defined. Keys come during my star quest, so I never feel I have to pay for them either. I guess if some of you just want to rush the main path in as little gameplay time as possible, you can see it as grinding.

My phone is an android phone (SGS3) and I'm not looking forward to the port. The first iteration of PvZ1 was horrible - low pixels, and missing tons of the cool features. The update was initially very welcome, until I realized how shitty of a port job they did. They added all the features from the other platforms (zen garden, last stand, survival, minigames, etc), but also monetized it in that you had to pay for everything. And the performance is TERRIBLE. My phone isn't current gen, but it's still a pretty fast device, and it runs like shit. The game takes probably 45 seconds to start. Zen garden is so choppy that it's nearly unusable. Resuming a game from anther app is probably a 20 second wait. And it runs nearly as terribly on my new Nexus 7, so even modern hardware has a hard time with it. And if you go for all the achievements, that's definitely a grind. You have to play survial or last stand endless over and over to get the plants you need.

I love PvZ2 so far, and I just fear they're going to fuck up the port again. I hope they don't, but it's definitely clear that they screwed up the last android one. Android is a big platform now, I just hope they put as much work into it as they did the iOS one, which runs like a dream on 2 year old hardware. It also runs perfectly on the itouch 5 and iphone 5, which I'd expect.

This game is going to make a ton of money. Not from me, but they certainly monetized it right for profit.

I agree with you (so far -- haven't finished yet) that this is one of the rare F2P games that gets monetization right.

I'm slightly surprised that you left out my favorite aspect of that: merchandising.

Right on the starting screen of the game is a button that looks like a green t-shirt with a cartoon face on it. Tap on that and you are sent here: http://www.pvzstore.com/

You can then buy plushies or shirts or whatever. It's sort-of like a tip jar. You can directly reward the developer and get something to show for it without corrupting the gameplay. It's like buying shirts at a rock concert.

I am pretty sure it can only work if the game has real, distinct character to it. Which is good, I think -- games like that deserve higher rewards than games that don't.

I understand that people seem to have moral and ethical problems with the payment model chosen by the powers that be but do the same people like the actual game? I mean if you were to ignore the pay wall stuff and just appreciate what is free, pretending you couldn't unlock anything for real cash money, is it fun? Or is it not allowed to be a fun game because you can buy stuff? I'm led to believe you can finish the story of the game with out providing any money so anything that can be purchased isn't strictly necessary to play at least some of the game. Is that portion you can play worth playing or is it a shit game with out money? I'm confused. Either it's a bad game because it just isn't fun to play or it's a bad game because we can pay them money in a way that makes me uncomfortable. So I won't play it at all? Can it be that the portion I was willing to pay for was fun or not fun for reasons specific to game play?

Eventually, I suspect there will be a PC boxed version that has everything in it for one price, say $19.99 or $24.99 Personally I'd rather go that route than grind with a F2P, even if it's the same money, just so they don't harass me all the time to buy stuff. I had a lot of fun with the first one; it's worth $20 if it's the same amount of game play.

It might be a bit of a wait, though.

I don't see why they would do that thoughjust throw it on origin with the same "in game" purchases.

Most of the plants are unnecessary, but I don't think any of them are actually useless. Chompers + Jackos make for fun, goofy play. Different strokes, I guess.

That never really worked for me though. Jacks aren't tough enough and Chompers are still way too slow. The game isn't so hard that you have to play absolutely optimally to beat a level but the balance problems with the various plants did bother me.

Now, where your argument has a bit of a weakness is that the review makes clear you never have to pay for anything at all.

That's not really true, though. You don't HAVE to pay for anything to "beat" the game, but if you want to unlock all the plants then you do have to pay. You cannot unlock the paid plants any other way other than coughing up $3+ each.

Untrue. All but one are unlockable through play.

EDIT: I'm wrong. Kotaku's review led me to believe this, but it looks like six are pay-only. None of them are necessary to win, at any rate. In the original PvZ I tended to gravitate toward the same sort of plants on almost every mission; having maximum plant variety is really just a bonus, IMO.

But as a reviewer it's 100% wrong. You haven't reviewed the full game, have you? If the upgrades are overpriced, that's:1. important information2. essential 'day 1 DLC' that clearly EA expects to sell to many customers, because this is F2P.

What good is a review that only covers one part of the experience? You didn't mention the paid stuff at all.

I assume he unlocked almost all of it just by collecting stars and keys through normal play, like I am doing.

Now, where your argument has a bit of a weakness is that the review makes clear you never have to pay for anything at all.

That's not really true, though. You don't HAVE to pay for anything to "beat" the game, but if you want to unlock all the plants then you do have to pay. You cannot unlock the paid plants any other way other than coughing up $3+ each.

Untrue. All but one are unlockable through play.

Where do you unlock the chili pepper, mimic, melon-pult, snow pea or garlic? Because I don't see that anywhere except things with dollar signs and a the number 3 or 4 after each dollar sign.

Now, where your argument has a bit of a weakness is that the review makes clear you never have to pay for anything at all.

That's not really true, though. You don't HAVE to pay for anything to "beat" the game, but if you want to unlock all the plants then you do have to pay. You cannot unlock the paid plants any other way other than coughing up $3+ each.

Untrue. All but one are unlockable through play.

It might be fair to point out that the store doesn't make that clear. When you look at the list of things you can buy, the stuff that cannot be obtained any other way is not obviously distinct from the stuff that can. This might reasonably be regarded as deceptive.

My own current solution is to forbid the game from annoying me (no permission to provide me any notifications of any sorts) and to never look at the store. If that stuff is invisible, and I still have fun without being aware of it (which so far is the case), no harm, no foul.

Free to play done right is if you want to speed up getting to the end. Or offering eye candy for extra.

As others have pointed out, there are many important items that are only available through purchase.

While you can finish the game without spending money (I'm about 80% through the stars), it's annoying that you can't actually get a complete game without spending an exorbitant amount of money.

Sure, make coins and keys available for purchase. Make funny hats for the plants available for purchase. But an extra plant slot? Several unique plant types? Cheesy.

Actual gameplay items like an additional plant slot should be unlockable through play. Sure, make it difficult. Make it time consuming. But make it available.

And FYI, the coin based powers are ridiculously powerful. Not that you need them, but you can pretty much clear a board. Personally, I can't stand devices like that in games, one button success. And if you need them to get through a level, then either you aren't playing right or the level is unbalanced.

My own current solution is to forbid the game from annoying me (no permission to provide me any notifications of any sorts) and to never look at the store. If that stuff is invisible, and I still have fun without being aware of it (which so far is the case), no harm, no foul.

At least the notifications haven't been annoying. So far they're just Yeti sightings and don't appear to be timed, you can respond to the notification and the Yeti is always there. First time I get a FRIEND I HAVE GREAT DEAL SALE SALE BUY 100,000 COINS HALF OF they're getting turned off.

User reviews on the app and every site I'm reading state you absolutely need to spend money on plants and slots, and that the game becomes unplayable without forking over ridiculous prices. The game lets you buy massive power-ups and is directly pay to win.

This review states you don't need to spend a single dime on the game, and that it is free to play done right.

Now, where your argument has a bit of a weakness is that the review makes clear you never have to pay for anything at all.

That's not really true, though. You don't HAVE to pay for anything to "beat" the game, but if you want to unlock all the plants then you do have to pay. You cannot unlock the paid plants any other way other than coughing up $3+ each.

Untrue. All but one are unlockable through play.

Where can you unlock the extra plant slot? The chili pepper? The imitator?

Iirc, the original game was $20 on Steam and Yahoo Games? Then it became available on other platforms and eventually dropped the price. You paid the price upfront, but then had to unlock plants/slots/rakes with in game coins earned by playing.

I have this sequel on iOS and find it to be pretty enjoyable. I would have gladly paid an upfront cost of about $20 if it included all content. As it is now, I've got a free game that lets me unlock about 75% of the content by playing through. I have a strong impulse to purchase 2 or 3 of the for-purchase plants to get the full experience. As long as I keep my micro-transactions under $20, I consider it a value (benefits > cost). That said, I do wish there were an "unlock all" option for $20 that removes all advertising.

I don't fault PopCap Games for their use of the "Freemium" model. They ensure that they get paid by gamers wanting the whole experience. They provide their base game as a demo to ensure it runs properly on your device. Their prices seem reasonable, imho.

And FYI, the coin based powers are ridiculously powerful. Not that you need them, but you can pretty much clear a board. Personally, I can't stand devices like that in games, one button success. And if you need them to get through a level, then either you aren't playing right or the level is unbalanced.

Much agreed. I'd like the option to turn those off from the menu. I don't want my 6 year old accidentally blowing all the coins I've accumulated.

Loved the first PvZ so no harm in playing this one for free, but I refuse to pay a cent since EA/Apple made a deal to be exclusive to IOS for x amount of time. Really rather play this on a PC/Xbox, not my iPhone.

[Citation Needed]

it is obviously a delayed exclusive since none of the other platforms have it yet...

EDIT: I'm wrong. Kotaku's review led me to believe this, but it looks like six are pay-only. None of them are necessary to win, at any rate. In the original PvZ I tended to gravitate toward the same sort of plants on almost every mission; having maximum plant variety is really just a bonus, IMO.

Yeah and this review would lead you to believe that too, unfortunately.

There are several plants that you cannot unlock any way other than paying for them, AND they are quite pricy. That's NOT Free to Play done right.

It only adds insult to injury that a number of those (Snowpea, Chili, Garlic) were among the core plants of PvZ for those of us who played it a lot.

If you still like PvZ2, more power to you. As a loyal customer who has bought pretty much every game Pop Cap has released (counting my wife, most of them 2x over) I feel like they have basically told me to go fuck myself with the way they've monetized PvZ2.

From that site (and this has been my experience as well, as I hope was clear from the review):

"Is IAP Necessary to Beat the Game?

Developers like Nimblebit, who make free-to-play games with unobtrusive IAP, have learned that designing the game and beta testing it with players without IAP involved whatsoever has been the most effective way to make a game that is fully playable without ever having to purchase anything extra. Once the game has been tuned through a beta test period, then you can add some options for IAP in order for people to fast-track their way through if they want but the rest of the game remains open to anyone who wants to experience it in its entirety.

Plants vs. Zombies 2 is very similar in that it's clearly been designed without taking into account the premium IAP plants or with having to purchase coins or keys just to progress through the game. In our forums, Appletini does a great job explaining exactly how the game has been tuned, based on her experience playing through the game:

"Each of the levels has been specifically designed so that you can complete it using only the fixed items/plants (if any) given to you in those levels, in addition to any plants you've gained access during the course of normal play; no level requires you to buy anything in order to pass it, IAP or otherwise.""

Actual gameplay items like an additional plant slot should be unlockable through play. Sure, make it difficult. Make it time consuming. But make it available.

I definitely unlocked an extra plant slot without paying any money.

The challenges are something that your brain is already wired to handle with the out-of-the-box thinking required if you've spent any amount of time in the original PvZ gathering minigame trophies and achievements.

Some of the achievements (such as completing a level while killing zombies using only explosive plants) really pushed your ability to be creative with the available resources.

They both have their uses but this isn't necessarily true. I don't really wanna turn this into a discussion of PvZ strategy but to keep it short; corn launcher base damage is garbage and the fact that the butter only happens once every 4(?) attacks or so whereas the snow pea will slow the front zombie of the cluster of zombies no matter how many are there, means for certain situations the snow pea is far preferrable.

Of course frozen watermelon launcher is the god but it costs 500ish sun.

And that's just the plants you need! For other upgrades, like one extra plant slot? $4 please. Reclaim more sun on digging up plants? Ching, $4 Start with extra sun? $4.

There's no way to earn your way to any of these. You can get some upgrades through play, but not all of them, and none of the paid for plants can be earned.

I agree with you on the prices, but I know for a fact that some of your post is wrong. I just earned the extra plant slot. It's on the pirate map. Takes 5 keys. Start with extra sun? I've earned that as well. Reclaim more sun on digging up a plant? That's on the pirates map as well.

I've earned the triple shot pea shooter as well. So while I agree with you the prices are outrageous (and I'd never pay them), the plants and power ups can be earned. Truthfully, they should be earned. The base map path is really short and only about 10 or so maps. Playing the challenges for the plants and power ups adds another 3 or 4 maps per plant or power up. Playing the challenges for extra keys is fun and doesn't seem like grinding.

So while you're right the prices are absurd, you are completely wrong about everything else. It's a fun game.

There's evidence to support this, it's been consistent one of the top 3 highest grossing games for about a year now. The overwhelming majority of the 346k reviews for the iOS version are 5 star; after a year of playing it's still fun. The only reason to purchase "gems" the pay currency is as an Accelerant.

there's two ways to do FTP right.

1. Accelerants based; either the pay currency is worth more, or it allows you to buy significant amounts of the resource used to purchase things. It can also kill time sinks (i.e. it will take 2 days for these units to recharge or this building to build, etc.. POOF! done). This doesn't lock out content, but gives casual gamers a way to compress a weeks worth of playing into a few hours.

2. Time restricted bonuses or cheats; the cheats are a form of the Accelerants, usually all resource collectors operate 10x normal speed, all points are doubled, exp. gain x5 for the next 12 hours, etc..etc... while the time restricted bonuses are usually "have super armor for 1 week" where you can get super armor or something very very very like it within the ftp game if you play for a year or two.

Approaching the FTP model as a DLC/Unlock will always upset off a player, with the exception of paying a few dollars to remove advertisements, or actually activating DLC that gives real value (i.e. the walking dead DLC); this model is a guaranteed to generate ill will amongst your users as arbitrarily setting prices for content necessary to enjoy the game to its fullest results in general malaise and a feeling of being "cheated". Whether or not someone should feel like that, is immaterial; the fact that they do is ultimately bad for business, results in larger numbers of lower scored reviews, and significant loss in revenue. The fact that everyone complaining about the PvZ2 FTP model across the internet says that they'd rather pay a fixed price for the game forms a clear synopsis of how badly implemented it is.

The golden rule of FTP models is to NEVER lockout content from the free users. IFF you absolutely have to, make the ftp "currency" something that is possible to slowly accrue as well if you're patient and persistent enough so that the free user "feels" like there there's a chance they could get the pay item/bonus/cheat if they just waited long enough. That one act encourage a 50/50 chance that they might eventually convert into a pay users because 1. they're very close to getting enough of the pay currency to get the item they want, or 2. feel that the game is worth paying for at some point during their free play experience.

The main thing that I'm noticing (I'm only JUST into the cowboy time map) is that the game is almost insanely easy.

I mean, seriously, people in China were complaining that it was too hard? Really? Is it not the same game?

I got to level 11 in the pyramid endless level before I found out that it was endless (and before I even lost a plant other than a potato bomb). I stopped playing that endless streak because I couldn't see why I'd continue (I need more coins maybe?)

I don't understand what the pay points are, but it looks like the only time they'd be useful would be at the far outer reaches of the endless levels. And I plan on stopping playing once I get all the stars (the replay value seems FAR less than the original PvZ game).

I enjoy it, but I think it would have been a better game if it was a bit more challenging and NOT F2P.

So the proper way to implement F2P is make it so you never have to pay at all? That's nice, but I have to wonder if it is going to put food on the table.

I play several games on my phone that are F2P with IGP. I've never spent a penny on any of them, but I know that at least one of them made millions shortly after release, with a friend who also plays having found a forum where one member spends $25.00 (!!!) every single day on the game just to get ahead.

I play a lot of F2P games with monetization baked into them. Some are pay to win, and that almost-universally sucks. Others are pay to get stuff you don't actually need faster, and I play several of those. Others are pay to get stuff that is useful but entirely unnecessary to actually playing and enjoying the game. And some offer things that are purely cosmetic for cash.

Different people will have issues with all of those, and others will have issues with none. If a game is pay to win and doesn't have you competing against other players, then I'm not really sure how that objectively affects those not paying other than the whole "they didn't have to go through what I had to go through" that gets people's backs up with little rational support.

Eventually, I suspect there will be a PC boxed version that has everything in it for one price, say $19.99 or $24.99 Personally I'd rather go that route than grind with a F2P, even if it's the same money, just so they don't harass me all the time to buy stuff. I had a lot of fun with the first one; it's worth $20 if it's the same amount of game play.

It might be a bit of a wait, though.

I don't see why they would do that thoughjust throw it on origin with the same "in game" purchases.

It taps into a different market. The original did that beautifully. Grandmothers and little kids played the game; gamers played the game. My grandmother, who played the heck out of Deer Hunter when it came out and a few other games, would never ever sign up for an Origin account and micro transactions.

There are several plants that you cannot unlock any way other than paying for them, AND they are quite pricy. That's NOT Free to Play done right.

I only agree with you if the specific plants are actually important. If they just provide cosmetic variations on capabilities you already have anyway, then I firmly disagree with you. If the game is tuned such that pretending those plants never existed lets you play to completion without excessive work, it's all good.

More specifically: I very much do not mind bilking completionists or nostalgia-junkies, as long as it doesn't spill too far onto more typical players. That sort of thing is in fact precisely an example of "free-to-play done right".

(That said: note that I responded with an "if/then". I do not have enough information to be certain of the "if" yet, as I haven't yet finished playing. I may come around to thinking they haven't done F2P correctly. But so far, "signs point to yes".)

The main thing that I'm noticing (I'm only JUST into the cowboy time map) is that the game is almost insanely easy.

I mean, seriously, people in China were complaining that it was too hard? Really? Is it not the same game?

I got to level 11 in the pyramid endless level before I found out that it was endless (and before I even lost a plant other than a potato bomb). I stopped playing that endless streak because I couldn't see why I'd continue (I need more coins maybe?)

I don't understand what the pay points are, but it looks like the only time they'd be useful would be at the far outer reaches of the endless levels. And I plan on stopping playing once I get all the stars (the replay value seems FAR less than the original PvZ game).

I enjoy it, but I think it would have been a better game if it was a bit more challenging and NOT F2P.

It gets harder as you go down the main path, and much harder as you go down side paths and revisit levels with extra challenges on top.

First of all, I think a lot of people just hate EA (for a good reason). The hatred transplanted to PVZ2. The game itself is not THAT bad. Sure, everybody hates F2P. Being a cheapass, I am actually happy that it's free to download. I don't mind grinding nor not collecting all kinds of plants.(Although I miss the snow pea A LOT). But I can live with it. If I get to choose between buying the game for $5.99 or getting it for free but having only limited plants. I will gladly choose the later. Of course that's just me. Honestly, I am enjoying the game for free. I just entered the pirate map after a week of casual play (1 hr a day?).

Also, I am curious if everyone is complaining about it on the internet, why does it has more than 16M downloads in 5 days? and the majority of the reviews in APP stores are 5 stars? Could it be that the crying babies of the internet are just a tiny little part of the total player population?? OH MY! (If that hurts your feeling, don't worry. The grocery store downstairs probably have some feminine tissues you can buy to wipe the sand off your V**** )

It's not like EA paid me to rationalize their greed all over the internet. EA is a for-profit company, what do you expect? I just find it irritating that people cry about it all day long.

As soon as I see "free to play", I run screaming in the other direction.

The developer can only make money by frustrating the user, or by locking something away. Transactions are small, so the developer has to do this repeatedly.

The way to do F2P right is to not make a person who hasn't paid anything feel like they are missing a core aspect and are some type of sub-standard player.

Some games, such as Path of Exile or Team Fortress 2 do this well by offering up purely cosmetic micro-transactions or small ease-of-use features that most people would be fine without.

PvZ2 is not one of those games. PvZ2 is Free-To-Play gone wrong and run amok. It isn't any different than the rest of the F2P trend plaguing mobile gaming, and it is the reason why many can't take mobile gaming seriously.

1. Accelerants based; either the pay currency is worth more, or it allows you to buy significant amounts of the resource used to purchase things. It can also kill time sinks (i.e. it will take 2 days for these units to recharge or this building to build, etc.. POOF! done). This doesn't lock out content, but gives casual gamers a way to compress a weeks worth of playing into a few hours.

2. Time restricted bonuses or cheats; the cheats are a form of the Accelerants, usually all resource collectors operate 10x normal speed, all points are doubled, exp. gain x5 for the next 12 hours, etc..etc... while the time restricted bonuses are usually "have super armor for 1 week" where you can get super armor or something very very very like it within the ftp game if you play for a year or two.

I disagree. Coming from a non-mobile gaming perspective, neither of those things are FTP done right.

They both are Pay-To-Win, which is a bane to respectable and quality gameplay.

Loved the first PvZ so no harm in playing this one for free, but I refuse to pay a cent since EA/Apple made a deal to be exclusive to IOS for x amount of time. Really rather play this on a PC/Xbox, not my iPhone.

[Citation Needed]

it is obviously a delayed exclusive since none of the other platforms have it yet...

Apple has historically never, ever been willing to pay outside companies for exclusives or timed exclusives. I can almost guarantee that the reason it is iOS-first is entirely an EA/PopCap decision designed to target the lion's share of the IAP market first. (Whether you love Android or hate it, statistically speaking, its users simply do not monetize via IAP at the levels that iOS does.) I definitely expect we'll see ports to all the other platforms in the coming weeks and months.

Yeah, it's silly, but that's Apple's fault. If you want to allow the iPhone 4 (which still sells and is likely the single most common iOS device out there) but not the original iPad (which is hard to work on because it has less memory and a bigger display), that is the only way to make the distinction in the App Store.